Eni has definitively concluded the procurement of palm oil in use in the biorefineries of Venice and Gela for the production of hydrogenated biofuels. In recent weeks, the latest shipments have arrived, ahead of the declared goal of becoming 'palm oil free' by the end of 2022.
Eni's biorefineries in Venice and Gela are already fed with 'waste & residue' raw materials - waste and processing residues, such as used cooking oils and animal fats - for more than 85% and with other biomasses regulated by European regulations and national laws in force.
From Kenya in November the first load of vegetable oil produced in the Makueni agri-hub will arrive at the Gela biorefinery, where the pressing of castor, croton and cotton seeds takes place, the agri-feedstocks produced by Eni that are not in competition with the food chain, grown in degraded areas, harvested from spontaneous trees or resulting from the enhancement of agricultural by-products. To the agri-feedstocks of the country, whose production will reach 2.500 tons of oil by the end of 2022 and 20.000 tons in 2023, is added the collection of waste and residues, including used vegetable oils, collected in Kenya: the first loads are arriving in Italy and up to 5.000 tons are expected to arrive in 2023.
The Venice biorefinery in Porto Marghera was the first example in the world, in 2014, of converting an oil refinery into a biorefinery and today Eni is the first to build a vertical integration model for the procurement of its plants that it makes it possible to promote more sustainable local development in Africa.
Eni's biorefineries produce HVO hydrogenated biofuels destined, in purity or blended, for diesel engines, bionafta for the chemical supply chain, biogpl and biojet for air transport.
HVO can also be used pure in all approved engines and allows CO2 emissions (calculated throughout the life cycle) to be reduced between 60 and 90% compared to the reference fossil mix. Eni has announced the study for the possible construction of a third biorefinery in Livorno.